Even mild global warming could completely melt Greenland’s ice cap

That's according to a research study by
the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)
and the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

By Agence France-Presse
Sunday, March 11, 2012 17:43 EDT
The Raw Story

The Greenland icesheet is more sensitive to global warming than thought, for just a relatively small — but very long term — temperature rise
would melt it completely, according to a study published on Sunday.

Previous research has suggested it would need warming of at least 3.1 degrees Celsius (5.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, in a range
of 1.9-5.1 C (3.4-9.1 F), to totally melt the icesheet.

But new estimates, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, put the threshold at 1.6 C (2.9 F), in a range of 0.8-3.2 C (1.4-5.8 F), although
this would have to be sustained for tens of thousands of years.

Current carbon emissions, though, place warming far beyond this objective. If they were unchecked, a fifth of the icesheet would melt within 500
years and all would be gone within 2,000 years, the study says.

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